I also own a 2 GB iPod shuffle, that is what my Apple Lossless 24/48 music files are for, which range from 1304 kbps to 1896 kbps. It holds a little less than 3 hours of 24/48 music files. I don't mind auto-filling my iPod with different music when I recharge it.

iTunes Match

1) Costs $24.99 per year.

2) Upgrades low bit-rate music files to 256 kbps AAC using iCloud on any device you own when reloading. What it does is substitute the version from the iTunes store for the one you uploaded.

3) Downgrades high resolution music files to 256 kbps using iCloud on any device you own when reloading. Again, it substitutes the version from the iTunes store for the one you upload.

I never could find out what happens to the music you upload that is not in the iTunes store database, maybe someone else knows.

If you have high resolution music files then you still need to save them to an external hard-drive or DVD-R's in case you have to reload them to your computer.

Hi Teresa, I guess you are not in Apple's target market, which covers just about every living breathing person in the whole world. What I was asking about was the quality of the tunes that can be heard. When things go in the direction Neil Young and Steve jobs were taking about. We may see HD files permanently backed up in the cloud with this service. But for now they are feeding the 250,000,000 people who buy iTunes at a dollar a pop.

If you had those files on your main computer, that is where they would still be, but you can have up to ten devices running around in non-optimum listening environments, updating in real time with 256 kbps. My girlfriend has 22,000 songs at her beck and call, just on her iPhone.

Teresa > I also own a 2 GB iPod shuffle, that is what my Apple Lossless 24/48 music files are for, which range from 1304 kbps to 1896 kbps.

Teresa I Drive with my tiny Fat nano, with lossless songs and 3-way earphones. I leave the same tunes in there for weeks. My iPod is half full including a few TV shows. Match does not yet have HD files, and as it is, it is not a back up service for deteriorating hard-drives. But it could be down the line. As Neil recently said, it is bad enough that the files are only 3% of what artist's record for fans. What I am adding is, if iTunes is just oversampling, even lower quality files, then that is just criminal!! A HD file should only be twice the size of a CD file. They cost more than twice as much, and the improvement is sound is considered marginal by just about everyone.

Teresa > What it does is substitute the version from the iTunes store for the one you upload.

I do not think that is true. If they find it fine, they give you and everyone else in the world the link too the same file. Like a web address. But if yours is different they upload it and store it. Like bootlegs and concerts. They have no way to sell these to anybody. If someone else has a request to store the the same wave form, they will give them a link to your file.

Teresa > Downgrades high resolution music files to 256kbps using iCloud on any device you own when reloading. Again, it substitutes the version from the iTunes store for the one you upload.

It degrades the file with your own computer before it sends it up. If it was in the iTunes store, if they detected a similar wave form they would just have given you the link. It is very fast. Your computer tells them what you have, and they send you the link. You can remove the file from your iTunes folder and keep on ancient storage devices, or put it up in iCloud outside of iTunes Match. I Tunes Match is for streaming the songs on Apple mobile devices and iPhones.

Teresa > If you have high resolution music files then you still need to save them to an external hard-drive or DVD-R's in case you have to reload them to your computer.

Sad to say but those storage mediums are a thing of the distant past. All hard drives with moving parts fail, and you should know that already. iTunes Match is revolutionary, consumers don’t understand the cloud, they don’t realize they’re already using the cloud. To get the best sound you need to put up with reduced usability. Do you have any doubt that the mainstream has throw out accurate reproductive ability for connivance?

iTunes Match stores a user’s entire music library in the cloud, and enables access to this music library through ten web-connected Apple devices at the same time, for a small fee. It backs-up data and provides a web-service. In allows a user to access any piece of music that they own on any iTunes-enabled device, in real-time. What it probably does not do, is make a 160 bit-depth song, into 256 bit-depth. ~~~ The driver smiled when he lost the car in pursuit...

"Instead of making you upload your song files to Apple’s servers, iTunes Match scans the iTunes library on your Macs or Windows PCs, then matches the titles you have with the 20 million songs Apple has the right to distribute via its iTunes store. If your songs are included in that 20 million, Apple simply places them in your online locker. In almost all cases, users will be left with only a small remnant of songs to upload—such as recordings by garage bands. (ITunes Match works only for digital music, not movies, TV shows or audiobooks, even if they’re available in iTunes.)

Once the songs are in the cloud, they also appear in your library in iTunes on computers, or in the Music apps on iPads, iPhones and iPod touch devices. You can stream the music, or press an icon with a downward arrow inside a cloud to download it. You can include up to 10 devices in iTunes Match. Plus, iTunes Match—which costs $25 a year for up to 25,000 songs—covers any song you own, regardless of how you obtained it. That includes songs purchased from non-Apple music services or imported from CDs, or even those that were downloaded illegally."

So no it won't upsample a 160 kbps song to 256 kbps, it replaces the 160 kbps song with the same song at 256 kbps from the iTunes store.

I'm not sure what happens to files lower than 256 kbps if they're not in the iTunes store database, however I read at Computer Audiophile that songs higher than 256 kbps are either replaced by the iTunes store version or downsampled to 256 kbps if not in the iTunes store database.

Saw that as soon as I hit the key, but there was no way to edit the subject. Just want to know if the 256 files are 256, or could they be oversampled 160s? ~~~ The driver smiled when he lost the car in pursuit...

Last year I read about Neil Young's meetings with Steve Jobs. Before Steve Jobs retired due to heath reasons it looked like the iTunes store was going to start offering 24 bit music files at a higher price. It now looks like it won't happen anytime soon. There are at least a couple of dozen sites offering 24 bit music files.

As far as download time Neil Young recommends downloading overnight. I have done that, however I usually download high resolution music files while watching prime time TV (8-11 PM)

Here are some of my favorite quotes from the interview:

"Ears are the window to the soul." "the iTunes store offers only 5% of the data present in the original recording." "95% of the soul of the music is missing." "Let the people have 100%" "Steve Jobs was a pioneer of digital music, and his legacy is tremendous, but when he went home, he listened to vinyl." "And you've got to believe that if he'd lived long enough, he would have done what I'm trying to do."

It really is too bad for us music lovers that Steve Jobs died of cancer. I have no doubt if Apple offered 24 bit downloads, so would Amazon and other major music sellers.